Many modern automated factories have flexible manufacturing lines capable of producing a variety of products, or variations of a product. Generally, machines on a manufacturing line are configured to perform specific tasks. The ability to quickly change the configuration of these machines is critical for some operations on the factory line. For example, the manufacturing of electronic devices typically involves populating a circuit substrate, such as a printed circuit board, with electronic components. Automated dispense machines are used to dispense flux or other tacking media, to prepare the printed circuit board for the population of circuit components. Other automated machines place the components onto the printed circuit board. Configuration of these automated machines can be tedious and time consuming.
Typically, configuration is accomplished using software and data to program machine control parameters. For media dispense machines, the parameters may include location, volume, and type. Traditionally, these parameters are determined for a particular product by combining product specific data with machine specific data to produce a data file or set of program instructions. These data files or program instructions must be interpreted to facilitate modifications needed to accommodate product changes or to address situation dependent concerns. Depending on the complexity of the product, the machine, and the operations involved in programming the machine, such modifications may require much time and effort.
Flexibility and efficiency are important considerations in the design of a modern factory. The ability to quickly modify the output of a production line is essential in many manufacturing environments. The facilitation of machine configuration is an important aspect of production line management. Prior art machine configuration techniques are inadequate to meet the demanding requirements for quick modification to the output of automated dispense machines. Therefore, it is desirable to have an improved approach to the configuration of automated dispense machines.